A big part of my focus in 2014 was on the pelvis. I have found that a lot of swing faults are due either to improper use or poor movement quality of the pelvis. So I thought I would spend a little time describing how we can improve movement quality – particularly pelvis stability. First some background. The two hip sockets are ball-and-socket (synovial) joints designed to be highly mobile. Since the joint has a large range-of-motion, it relies on many muscles to provide stability and control. Unfortunately, due to a variety of reasons these muscles can be neglected or underdeveloped. I’ve shown the following picture before, the common lower body cross syndrome. This dysfunction puts the pelvis in a poor static position, and really limits the pelvis’ capabilities.

However, this just shows the sagittal plane. Many faulty patterns can occur in the frontal plane as well including weakened adductor, tight gluteus medius creating lack of hip internal rotation. Since the hip has so much freedom, a lot can and will go wrong if we don’t pay a lot attention to this magnificent structure. In terms of the baseball swing, with poor control of the pelvis we are asking hitters to write a swing check that their movement bank can’t cash. So let's get cracking on improving stability.Step One – Access This is the step you are going to skip. Haha. Seriously, an assessment from someone who knows what they are looking for can be a huge benefit. From an assessment you can tell if you have any postural misalignment, mobility, or stability shortcomings. The best bet would be to complete a static assessment followed by a movement screen like the FMS (if you are doing an FMS pay special attention to Tests #2, #3, and #7. A quick FMS guide can be found here). If that isn’t a possibility, I highly recommend purchasing Assess and Correct by Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson. It is pure gold folks. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to determine if you have any postural misalignment. Misalignment put the body in a disadvantaged state, and you will simply not get the most out of your body until they are corrected. Not to mention injury risk. In the words of Mike Reinold, “alignment first, then stability, then mobility.”Step Two – Supine OK. So you went through the assessment and you determined you need to improve pelvic stability. Very common. We are going to build up the pelvis starting with our backs on the ground. This is the easiest because it takes a large element of core control out the equation. The exercise: the dead bug. Tony Gentilcore describes the value and technique far better than I could, so just read this article. Another great exercise is demonstrated here by Eric Cressey. This glute bridge variation really hits the leg adductors – a key and criminally overlooked muscle group.Step Three – Quadruped Got the dead bug mastered? Probably not. But let’s go over the next step in the progression. We are going to get off our backs but still keep four points of contact with the ground. This increases the difficulty by forcing us to control more of our weight. The exercises: plank progressions moving on to bird dogs. Again, why try to describe stuff when experts have already done it. From Mike Reinold: here and here. And from Mike Robertson on bird dogs: here.Step Four - Two legA pro at quadruped movements? Suuuuuure. Well, let’s move on. Now it's time to get off the ground and increase the difficulty. For this part of the progression, we are really going to focus on anti-rotation. A large part of pelvis stability is the ability to AVOID unwanted rotation (think opening the hips to0 early). These exercises are going to help on that front.The Pallof press. Tony Gentilcore goes through some awesome variations of the exercise here.Wide stance anti-rotatoin chop. I love this exercise because it brings the leg adductors into play. Did I mention the leg adductors are important? Video here.

Step Five – Single leg It’s time to really ratchet up the difficulty. We are going to be doing single leg movements. You know, similar to the stride and body turn in the swing. First exercise up is the single leg RDL. This one keeps the movement in the sagittal plane. Again I refer to Tony Gentilcore for the description here.

Now for the ultimate hip stability exercise ever. I am on a one-man mission to spread the word on the importance of an exercise popularized by Dr. Stuart McGill – the hip airplane. They are awesome. Take a look at this video for demonstration.

Let me close this with a quote from Eric Schoenberg of Momentum PT: Every rep is either going to make you better or make you worse. These exercises require great attention to detail, otherwise they WILL be more detrimental to you. Done correctly, these exercises will improve your body control which is paramount for the swing. Done incorrectly, you will be just reinforcing faulty compensation patterns. If you don’t know how to do these exercises, seek someone out who does and can help you.